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Students of Decay April Update
Greetings all!
The next two SOD CDs, Area C's superlative "Charmed Birds Against Sorcery" and the narcoleptic masterpiece "The Sad Return" by Jeff Witscher's Marble Sky, are now up for pre-order. We're shooting for mid-May for their release. The pre-orders will run until the end of April. Note that special editions of each are available for the time being. Each is limited to 100 and includes a bonus 3'' cdr along with the album proper. We've been getting A LOT of emails about both of these releases, so if you're interested in a special edition - don't hesitate!
Still hot and fresh: The Nether Dawn's "Long Shadow of a Dream" and the Skeletons Out debut album"In Remembrance of Me." $12ppd worldwide for each.
More news: The Snowbringer Cult will begin shipping on 4/16. We really couldnt be any more excited with how this one turned out. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered - your copies will go out first!
The Dance of the Moon and the Sun 2CD reissue is still available for preorder, but only until 4/15. Because its taken longer than anticipated to get this one out we've cooked up a special surprise for those of you who pre-order the album: a 2nd bonus 3'' cdr in addition to the 3'' that already comes with all pre-orders.
We've got some KILLER new CDRs on the horizon too from folks like Acre, UW Owl, David Kirby, John Davis, Millions, Sarah's Charity, Ajilvsga, Little Skull, Sparkling Wide Pressure, Elektronavn and Brendan Murray, and we'll be doing our very first cassette release, a Jefre Cantu-Ledesma/Pete Swanson split, within the next couple months.
Spring/Summer will see CD releases by Ashtray Navigations, Cloaks, and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.
Taiga Remains has new releases on Root Strata, Ekhein and Arbor.
Make sure to check out the new Decay States blog!
As usual, sound clips and ordering info for these and all available releases at the SOD site.
SOD-18 Area C - Charmed Birds Against Sorcery CD (ltd. 500) [Pre-order: $15ppd special edition/$12ppd regular edition]
"Charmed Birds Against Sorcery" is the third studio album by New England-based musician Erik Carlson, and constitutes a startling development in his sound. The first Area C record, 2006's "Traffics + Discoveries," was a small marvel of whirring loops sourced primarily from processed guitars. Last year's "Haunt," Carlson's second record for Last Visible Dog, was a different affair entirely, investigating the provocative drone capabilities of farfisa organs. The compositions which constitute "Charmed Birds..." develop and, often, transcend the motifs found on these prior albums, with Carlson revealing an astonishingly refined and singular approach to guitar-based composition.
Soundwise, the album recalls more the crystalline, kaleidoscopic webworks of the first Area C record than the ragged organ workouts of "Haunt." Glacial harmonics drift in and out of each channel, skittering, modulated notes pulse and surge, sputtering suddenly to luminescent manifestation before disappearing just as quickly. Many of the compositions here are in fact more remniscient of the ambient side of Wolfgang Voigt's work in Gas, or perhaps the less beat driven aspects of "94 Diskont"-era Oval than what we've come to expect from what is ostensibly a 'guitar and electronics' based project. An almost kraut-like rhythm subtends the topography of "Composition Journal," the album's stunning opener, its low throb punctuated by brittle shocks from deconstructed drum machines over which Carlson weaves a spiraling lattice of bowed and picked notes. Later, on "Sleeping Birds," we're presented with a lulling idyll concocted by way of flute-like tones and languid note clusters, a shorter piece which dissolves seamlessly into modulating static at the onset of the pointillist microcosm that is "Spell of Resistance." The title track is without question the album's apex and constitutes a formal peak in Carlson's discography, as brilliant, bright guitar lines tread effortlessly in a sea of tranquil pulses and disembodied percussive elements.
It should come as no surprise that, by day, Carlson works in the field of architecture. For with "Charmed Birds..." he has constructed an edifice of stunning complexity, originality and beauty.
*"Charmed Birds Against Sorcery" is available now for PRE-ORDER. Please note the availability of 100 SPECIAL EDITION copies which feature an additional 3'' CDR of new Area C recordings which won't be available otherwise. The 3''s will come in sleeves designed by Carlson himself ala the gorgeous 3''s that constituted the 'handmd' series that he self-released.*
SOD-73 Marble Sky - "The Sad Return" CD (ltd. 500) [Pre-order: $15ppd special edition/$12ppd regular edition]
Limited to a mere 15 copies, the original Marble Sky cassette is definitely an album which has been talked about more than actually heard. Released in 2007 by the Callow God label, and dedicated to "several friends passing through and across," "The Sad Return" finds Impregnable's Jeff Witscher conjuring devastatingly beautiful tidepools of romantic, nostalgic drone music. As evidenced by the surge of placid, warm Impregnable recordings which began turning up midway through 2007, Witscher has become increasingly interested in lulling ambient music - a move which is in sharp contrast to his earlier, blisteringly harsh noise work with Impregnable. After hearing the cassette, we knew that this was material that demanded a larger audience and we're thrilled to present the original material along with 20 minutes of new recordings.
Listening to "The Sad Return" is akin to staring out into a grey horizon on a late autumn day. "Pulling Out Grass Under a Blanket" is a smear of beautifully evolving, evocative tones wrung from guitar and synthesizer. Witscher's attention to detail and pacing is marvelous, as wisps of choral drones weave in and out of warm gushes of washed out synth discharge. Later, on "What You Might Forget," surges of static threaten to unhinge a romantic dronework that brings to mind the levitating vistas of Mirror at their most poignant. Elsewhere, Witscher channels the glacial synth studies of Elaine Radigue into a myriad of focused, devotional dreamstates akin to the dayglo analog string fantastias put forth by Stars of the Lid circa "Avec-Laudenum." Ultimately, Marble Sky stands as Witscher's opus: a strikingly wrought meditation on sadness, love and the depths of memory.
*"The Sad Return" is now available for PRE-ORDER. Note the availability of 100 SPECIAL EDITION copies which will include a 3'' CDR of new Marble Sky recordings that will not be available otherwise.*
Thanks for reading!
All the best,
Alex
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at 15 April, 2008 10:24,
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